Dweller
Chapter 19

As we start on our excursion, I watch as the kid happily pronounces along the long luscious green grass. We keep heading north towards our direction. We walk a great distance, we walk through plains and forest and rugged terrain. Heading in the complete polar opposite direction of the direction I had first traveled all those moons ago.

As we walk we create small talk, answering questions that the kids may have about a variety of different topics. We talk about some of the different creatures they see, some of the adventures we have been on and all of the different places we have seen. Jason even asks some fighting ideas that the group has come up with.

However halfway through the walk, I zone out about what the other five are talking about. I take in the surroundings as old memories flood up. Filling my brain with long forgotten memories and original plans.

I reminisce about my family and the strange dreams that haven't come up in so long. The lake and the mysterious saver from the river. And Quincy. I miss him so much. It's hard to see siblings, they only remind me of the relationship between me and Quincy.

The light from the sky quickly dims, finally snapping me back to the present.

“Alright everybody we stop here for the night. Follow me so we can replace a place to rest for the night.” I proclaim.

They follow us to the clearing underneath a cave. We settle down and leave our stuff at the entrance. As I say I’m going to go collect sticks and everyone stays here.

I wander around the open forest, which some would mistake for a field with a few sprouting trees. I collected some small sticks before finally deciding I had found enough. I did however keep on traversing the woods as I finally felt home after being stuck in the busy city.

I started heading back when the sun was almost completely gone. To see a very small lit pile of sticks and leaves on fire. Illuminating the five others. They seem to be deep in a conversation. I continue forward before I pause and hide behind a tree at the mention of my name.

“No-one really knows Stalker's past. Not even her real name. I don’t think even the boss knows.” He says looking at the kids. They are all closely huddled together as if they were telling scary stories. Sam continues on, “All we know is that Stalker hasn’t had the best past nor the best encounters with the supernatural. Which has led her to be extremely defensive around others and doesn't trust others that easily. It also started fueling her hatred towards anything non human. It was super hard to get her to just look at me, let's not even talk about her having a conversation with me.” He rambled on about me.

“Why doesn't she sleep at night?” Maddy asks, finally speaking for the other blooming curiosity.

It felt uncomfortable and very unusual for others to be interested in me however, I wanted to see where this goes so I let it continue on just a bit longer.

“Well because she is scared that she won’t wake up the next morning. If you haven’t noticed she is constantly on guard and is hardly relaxed. The night gives her comfort at the same time giving her the time she needs to relax under the darkness. Just like you saw earlier with her walking through the wilderness and how she kept zoning out and calmly walking through the terrains. You could even slowly see a smile forming on her always strict face.”

“How did you guys meet and start hanging out together?” Another one of the kids asked. Taking this as an opportunity to learn as much about me where they previously would have never.

“Funny as it is, she was my invitation to see if I was worth joining the group. You should have seen her, she was amazing and she has only improved since then. Even though she only barely took me down.” I took this as an opportunity to present my arrival back.

“That's not at all how I remember it. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head when I completely destroyed you?” I say as sincerely as I possibly can, but the growing smirk on my lips gives away my humor.

I start the story of how we first met as I grow the firs making everyone back away from one another and absorb the warmth that emanates from the fire. Only growing more and more in sizes as I add more sticks and branches.

“Last time I checked, when we fought you had tripped over your own feet the moment the fight started, causing you to bust your nose and cause a nose bleed. We had to postpone the fight because of the injury and how it was somehow unfair because of that.” I say causing 4 little giggles to burst causing them to break down in tears.

Trying to bring back Sam’s amazing persona I tell them finally about the actual fight. “When we finally fought Sam did amazing. He fought me off for 10 minutes before he finally got punched in the gut by me. Which is the longest standing time for anyone who has ever come up against me. He should be proud and with his current improvements that I have heard about he could soon pass even me and become the 2nd.” I say brushing his ego over and over again. Causing a blush of embarrassment to over take his face.

Once he finally recuperates from his embarrassment, he retaliates trying to humble themselves which does not work. “Ya right like I’ll ever pass you. You grew up in the forest. Not only that I know that you lived by yourself in the forest a little bit, however I don’t actually know how long.”

“Way too long.” I answer by trying to put down these lines of questioning.

Hearing my hesitation to complete this conversation we move on talking about adventures that each other has faced and diving a bit into everyone's past. Making the night filled with stories of the past.

Maddy and Jason were the first to fall asleep and Blar and Secle soon followed soon behind. While me and Sam continued the stories until the moon was high in the sky and the fire was almost completely gone. We also slowly made our way to bed doing night watches and switching out every few hours.